Assembly Democrats Win Two, Lose One and Wait On Another

Four Assembly seats were up for grabs tonight. Democrats won two, lost one and another one is undecided.

As expected, Democrat Shelley Mayer won election to the Yonkers Assembly seat vacated by Mike Spano, who was elected mayor last year. Mayer, former counsel for Senate Democrats, essentially ran unopposed. Her Republican challenger was on the ballot, but didn’t campaign in the heavily Democratic district.

In Buffalo, South District Common Council member Mickey Kearns, a Democrat running on the GOP line, defeated Chris Fahey, a former aide to Rep. Brian Higgins, in the race for the 145 State Assembly. Kearns won 57-43 percent to succeed Democratic Assemblyman Mark Schroeder, who resigned to become city comptroller.

In another Hudson Valley Assembly seat, the race was too close to call tonight between Republican Richard Wager and Democrat Didi Barrett.

Wager said in a statement that there’s 1,000 absentee ballots to be counted. The candidates are vying for a seat vacated by Marcus Molinaro, a Republican who was elected Dutchess County executive last November.

“At that point we will know who was victorious. Please stay tuned,” Wager said.

There’s also a battle for the state Senate in Brooklyn to succeed disgraced Democratic Sen. Carl Kruger, who resigned as part of a plea deal in a corruption scandal. That race was down to the wire.